Week eight games
Friday
Middletown 28, Kelseyville 25
Lower Lake 34, Cloverdale 34 (tie)
Tomales 24, Upper Lake 20
St. Helena 41, Clear Lake 7
Statistical leaders
Rushing — Kelseyville quarterback John Mark Reagan rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns in a 28-25 loss to Middletown. Also for Kelseyville, Geno Poloni had 87 yards, pushing him over 1,000 yards for the season, and a TD. Lower Lake”s Jerald Dummond had 91 yards on 17 carries against Cloverdale while Upper Lake”s Bradley Brackett gained 84 yards with a TD in a 24-20 loss to Tomales. Austin Benson had 72 yards on only eight carries and a TD in Middletown”s win over Kelseyville.
Passing — In his varsity debut after missing the first seven weeks of the season with an injury, Middletown”s Ben Pike completed 14 of 19 passes for 280 yards and two TDs against Kelseyville. Lower Lake”s Richard Tucker went 14-for-23 for 213 yards and four TDs in a 34-34 tie with Cloverdale.
Receiving — Middletown”s Kyle Brown caught seven passes for 161 yards and a TD in his first game since moving from quarterback to wide receiver. Middletown running back DJ Brookshire added five catches for 109 yards and a TD. Lower Lake”s Alphonsos Daniels caught eight passes for 89 yards and a TD against Cloverdale while teammate Jesse Meldrum, a tight end for the Trojans, caught three passes, all touchdowns, for 75 yards.
Highlights
Special teams — Kelseyville”s Diego Barajas booted a 37-yard field goal in the first quarter against Middletown. Clear Lake”s Luke Punzalan blocked an extra-point by St. Helena.
Defense — The Lower Lake Trojans amassed seven sacks against Cloverdale, four of them by one player — Josh Gamble. Another Lower Lake player, Marcus Radovan, had a sack and an interception. Middletown”s Nick Dellia logged his sixth sack of the season against Kelseyville while teammate Blaine Amos logged sack No. 4. Middletown”s Kyle Brown picked off his third pass of the season.
1,000 yards — Upper Lake”s Bradley Bracket (1,056) and Kelseyville”s Geno Poloni (1,041) topped 1,000 yards for the season on Friday night. It”s the second straight season Poloni has done it, which puts him on a short list of county stars to reach that milestone in back-to-back seasons.
Racking up the tackles — Kelseyville”s Jake Youngs had seven unassisted tackles and two assists against Middletown while teammates James Green had four solos and five assists and Michael Bateman had three solos and seven assists, including a sack. Upper Lake”s Bradley Brackett had 11 assists against Tomales.
Taking it all the way back — Upper Lake”s Bradley Brackett returned a fumble 85 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter against Tomales, briefly giving his team a 20-18 lead.
Everyone”s a quarterback — Clear Lake had four players attempt passes in its loss to undefeated St. Helena, which might be a record. Quarterbacks Kenny Henninger, Andre Buendia and Steven Edwards all attempted passes as did running back Omar Vazquez.
Exciting as a tie can be — Richard Tucker completed 1-yard touchdown pass to Alphonsos Daniels and then ran for the two-point conversion with three seconds remaining to earn a 34-34 tie with Cloverdale. Tucker called an audible on the conversion run.
Let the Bass Bowl mania begin — Clear Lake (3-5) hosts Kelseyville in the second annual Bass Bowl game Friday night at Don Owens Stadium in Lakeport. It”s probably the biggest game of the season matching 3-5 and 0-8 teams, one that they will be talking about at least until ? next week.
Bass Bowl notes — If Clear Lake wins to send Kelseyville to 0-9, and if Willits (7-1) beats Lower Lake (0-7-1) on Friday, Kelseyville and Lower Lake will square off the following week in Kelseyville, which means either the Knights or Trojans (barring a tie) will end the season on a happy note.
More on Bass Bowl — If Bass Bowl officials can sell out the game before Thursday, it will not be blacked out by Lake County TV.
Congrats — To the Middletown and Clear Lake girls” soccer teams and Kelseyville boys for reaching the sectional playoffs. Kelseyville opens on the road Wednesday while Middletown and Clear Lake host quarterfinal-round games Saturday at 7 p.m.
Big West champs — The UC Davis women”s cross country team won its first Big West Conference championship Saturday during the Big West Championships at UC Riverside. Sarah Sumpter led the Aggies with a second-place finish, completing the 6K course in 20:33.7. Three UC Davis runners placed in the top 10. Next up are the West Regionals Nov. 12 at Stanford.
Speaking of championships — The Upper Lake Cougars need a win at home on Saturday against St. Vincent to stay in the NCL II title chase. Upper Lake won the first meeting between the two teams 46-40 on Oct. 15 in Petaluma.
Held accountable — It”s nice to see local football coaches holding their players — stars or otherwise — accountable by either not starting them or not playing them if they violate team rules. It”s the right thing to do.
La Russa does it right — He”s going out on top even though his team is still good. Just like Bill Walsh after the 49ers won Super Bowl XXIII.
Hoop Classic update — The updated schedule will be out soon but this year”s tournament will be contested Dec. 15-17 at Kelseyville High School. Upper Lake dropped out last week, so the round-robin tournament has been shortened from five days to three. There will be some minor changes but nothing major.
Up North — Coach Stan Weiper”s Ione High School (Oregon) Cardinals are 3-2 in league and 5-4 overall after beating Echo 52-22 in 1A Special District 3 eight-main football action on Friday night. The win snapped a two-game Ione losing streak. The Cardinals close out their regular season this Friday night at Condon/Wheeler. Weiper is the former head coach at Kelseyville and Lower Lake high schools.
